Are you looking for ways to treat inguinal hernia without surgery? Well, you’re not the only one. Since I have been writing this blog and making videos for my youtube channel, I have been asked by a lot of people how I manage my hernia on a day-to-day basis without having to get surgery. So I figured I would write a post about it and let you know the five most important things I do to manage inguinal hernia without surgery. I will summarize them quickly below, then elaborate in the following paragraphs.

Remember, this is not medical advice, but only the things that I do in order to manage my hernia day to day without having to get surgery.

 

 

How to Treat Inguinal Hernia Without Surgery

1. Wear a hernia belt
2. Hold it with your hand when coughing, sneezing, or straining
3. Walk lightly on your feet
4. Stay away from foods that inflame the intestines
5. Do exercises to strengthen the inner and outer obliques and transverse abdominals

Wear a Hernia Belt

Wearing a hernia belt is probably the most important way to treat inguinal hernia without surgery. You may know that I have developed a hernia belt that I use every day. For me, I wasn’t able to find one that I could wear comfortably during all the activities that I like to do, and still have the confidence to go all out without holding back. So I had to design one for myself. It might be for sale by the time you read this. I’m not saying that you have to buy the one that I designed, but you have to find one that fits your lifestyle. One that you can wear every day, all day, without having to worry about the hernia popping out on you.

I can’t stress to you enough how important I think this is. If the hernia is allowed to keep pushing through the hole in the inguinal canal, it will continue to get worse and worse until eventually it will push down into your scrotum and become irreducible. Once that happens I don’t believe that there will be anything you can do but get hernia surgery. Find one that you can wear from the time you get out of bed to the time you go to sleep. Only take it off when you are in the shower.

Hold It With Your Hand When Coughing or Straining

Personally, even though I wear the hernia belt all day every day, I still like to hold the hernia with my hand any time I cough, sneeze, poop, and sometimes when I laugh really hard.  The most important would probably be when pooping. Not only do I hold the side that my hernia’s on, but I hold the other side too. I’ve talked to too many guys who got their hernia from straining while on the toilet. It’s better to be safe than sorry. I would hate to protect the side that already has the hernia, and end up having one pop out on the other side.

Walk Lightly on Your Feet

This might sound weird, but it really is very important. Especially if you’re on your feet a lot. Think about the constant pounding that happens every time you slam your heels down on the ground when walking. It’s like you are hammering your intestine down into the hole where the hernia is. Anything you can do to mitigate the pounding will help. I walk barefoot 95% of the time for this reason. You will walk much softer barefoot than with shoes on. If I do need to wear shoes I wear Vans or something with flat soles. Any shoe that doesn’t have a lot of padding. I also try to walk in a way that is not heal-toe. I sort of put my whole foot on the ground at the same time (almost toe-heal)  which makes for a much softer step.

Stay Away From Foods That Inflame The Intestine

This is another very important way to treat inguinal hernia without surgery. I do not eat gluten because it is very inflammatory for the intestine. I feel bloated and tired when I eat it. If it is inflammatory to the intestine, it is causing inter-abdominal pressure. This is not good if your intestine is already trying to push through the weakness in the inguinal canal. I also stay away from sugar since it is inflammatory as well. Sometimes, I eat a small amount of chicken, but I’m almost vegetarian. I noticed that when I eat meat I feel more pressure on the hernia.

When trying to treat inguinal hernia without surgery, diet plays a huge role. The problem is that reactions to certain foods are vastly different from person to person. What works for me, might be different than what works for you. The key is to experiment to see which foods are working for you or against you. You can do this by eliminating a certain food that you might think is causing gas, bloating, or constipation for 30 days. Then, after 30 days, consume the food again to see if it causes an adverse effect. If it does, then it would probably be a good idea to eliminate that food item from your diet.

Do Exercises to Strengthen the Inner and Outer Obliques and Transverse Abdominals

I have an exercise regimen that I’ve been doing to treat inguinal hernia without surgery that you can see by going to my youtube channel. I found these exercises in a medical journal from way back in 1915. The osteopathic doctor who wrote it used this exercise regimen with his patients to heal inguinal hernias. It does a really good job of tightening up the muscles that are used to hold the hernia in place. I also do a few easy yoga breathing exercises that I think make a world of difference. They work to tighten up the transverse abs. Those are the muscles that are directly around the hole in the inguinal canal where the hernia comes out. My thinking is that if I can tighten these muscles up, they will work to hold the intestine in place, and not let it slip through the canal.

Since I have been doing these exercises I have noticed a huge change in how much the hernia pokes out, and how often I feel pressure in the area.

More Thoughts on How To Treat Inguinal Hernia Without Surgery

I think that one of the most important things to mention is that if you follow these five things, and still feel like you can’t manage the hernia without surgery, KEEP TRYING. These things have worked for me over the past few years, but everyone is different. There might be a few small tweaks you have to make to be able to have a high quality of life without getting the surgery. If your mind is absolutely set that you do not want to get surgery, just keep at it. Eventually, you will figure out exactly what you have to do to manage it. It took me a few years to get to the point where I am now, but hopefully, by posting this, I can help you get there a lot sooner. Good Luck!

Update 9/2022 –

Since originally writing this post I was able to get my hernia to be 100% asymptomatic. There is no pressure, no lump, and I do not need to wear a hernia belt any longer. The way I did this was to keep the hernia pushed in at all times when I was awake by using the hernia belt that I designed. Also I was able to reverse what I found to be the root causes of an inguinal hernia.

I put a plan in place to:

1. Fix my pelvic posture
2. Increase mobility in the hips
3. Strengthen the muscles around the inguinal canal
4. Consume a diet which does not cause excess gas, bloating, or constipation
5. Learned to deal with tension caused by unconscious repressed emotions such as anger.

Once I was able to do this, I was able to become symptom free. I hope this helps on your journey to treat inguinal hernia without surgery!

Update 08/2026: Researchers Are Now Testing a Non-Surgical Approach in Humans

There’s also some interesting new research worth following. Researchers have launched the RIGHT Trial (Reversing InGuinal Hernia Trial), a human clinical trial investigating whether changing estrogen signaling can produce measurable changes in existing inguinal hernias.

This research grew out of earlier studies in which scientists were able to reverse established inguinal hernias in mice without surgically repairing them. The human trial will now use ultrasound to see whether the hernias themselves actually change during treatment.

I break down what the researchers are testing, who they’re studying, and why I think this trial is worth paying attention to in my article on the RIGHT Trial and non-surgical inguinal hernia research.